Page 165 of Love Overboard
My stomach dropped. “It’s my dad.”
I blinked up at Finn, who frowned but nodded for me to answer it. I knew it was hard for him to understand my relationship with my father, especially after our time on the show. My father had grown more distant than ever when it all went down. He was pleasant enough when I called, or when Mom invited me and Finn over for dinner, but over time, we’d grown more and more apart.
It was a boundary I needed, to live my life without him casting his opinions over my choices. But I still missed him. My father may have been demanding of me. He may have been stubborn. He may have been loud with his judgment.
But I knew he loved me.
I knew he enforced control because that was what made him feel like he was keeping me safe.
“Hi, Dad.”
“There’s my girl,” he greeted, his voice warm even despite the discomfort I sensed. My heart squeezed like always, the greeting as confusing as ever. “I hear there’s a shiny new star in town, and it belongs to my daughter and an ornery Irish chef who stole her heart.”
“Hi, Mr. Reed,” Finn sang, and then he kissed my cheek on a grin before nodding toward the kitchen, letting me know he was going to leave me alone.
I reached out and squeezed his hand just as my father’s voice rang through again. “Congratulations, Ember. That is quite the accomplishment.”
“Thank you, Dad.”
I appreciated his congratulations. I knew this meant something to him because a Michelin Star was something he could quantify. It was a reliable source, a standard wayof measuring success. He never would have given the same greeting for something I earned in yachting.
But that was okay.
He didn’t need to understand what I did or what made me happy. I didn’t need anyone’s approval to live.
He was quiet again, and I thought maybe that was it. A courtesy call. But then his voice came again, softer this time.
“Not just for the restaurant. For… everything. For surviving.”
That had my brows pinching together. “What do you mean?”
“I watched the show. The whole show.”
Well, shit.
I stayed silent, not sure what to say to that. Was he ready to lay into me for all the drama, for the way I’d portrayed myself to the public?Close Quartershad released countless “bonus footage” since the reunion, so much so that the reality TV lovers now regarded me and Finn as one of their favorite couples. The truth had come out — all of it — and though neither of us needed anyone else to know the truth but us, it was nice to not be painted as the bad guys any longer.
And while we chose not to share much of ourselves on social media, both of us fed up with our time living under public scrutiny, we were also thankful to the show and the audience it had brought us. They’d been the first to sell out our reservations when we opened Pygo, and we knew we wouldn’t have had such a jumpstart on success without them.
Strange, isn’t it, how sometimes the very things that try to break us are just the final test before the breakthrough. How the moments that bring us to our knees — the ones that make us question everything, that leave us gutted and breathless and bruised — are often the last hurdle before we rise.
“I know what you went through,” Dad said. “Well, I guess I don’treallyknow — but I can imagine. And I know if mypersonal life had been aired for public consumption, I wouldn’t have handled it with half the grace you did.”
I exhaled shakily. “Thanks, Dad.”
“You know your mother and I are college sweethearts,” he continued. “But what you don’t know is that she was dating my best friend when we met.”
My jaw hinged open. “What?”
“I’m not proud of it. But when I met her, I knew. I just… knew she was it for me. It wasn’t clean. It wasn’t easy. But love rarely is.”
I sat down slowly on the edge of a barstool, the world shifting under my feet.
“I’m not saying what I did was right,” he finished. “Or that what you and Finn did was, either. But what I am saying is that I’m sorry for not taking you or your career choice seriously. I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you at a time when you needed to know that I’m on your side — always. Me and your mother, both.”
My eyes welled. “That means a lot to me.”
“I see you now, and I get it. I understand. What you did in the yachting world, what you did on that show, and what you’ve done now, with Pygo?” There was a long pause. “I’m damn proud of you.”
